Despite commemorating martial law the Aquino administration is still pursuing aggressive martial law-style military operations through Oplan Bayanihan which has accounted for a vast majority of the human rights violations in the Philippines.

Karapatan today held a picket at the Times St. residence of Noynoy Aquino to call the attention of the government on the “military operations especially in the rural areas and on the plight of the evacuees such as those from the Bondoc Peninsula in Quezon Province who left their homes because of these operations.”

Karapatan secretary general, Cristina Palabay said, “there are now eight military battalions in Bondoc Peninsula, something that has never happened before, even during the time of martial law.” Karapatan has documented several cases of threats and harassment against residents in the area, including those who are members of farmers’ organizations.

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Quoting a study entitled Impact of Militarization of Human Rights in the Philippines, a document that traced the human rights violations during martial law, Palabay said that “reading through the text that described the hamletting and forced evacuation during the martial law years is like listening to the woes of the people in the rural areas who are currently displaced because of military operations in rural communities. Nothing changed.”

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Palabay added that, “it is also significant to note that as in the martial law days, intense military operations are meant to drive people away from their lands. It preceded the entry of transnational corporations and agribusiness plantations or government projects such as dams. These days, military operations are similarly linked with the entry or expansion of mining operations by foreign big business as in the case of the Caraga region, the dams in Bukidnon, transformation of hacienda’s into agri-business in Bondoc Peninsula, and other projects related to Aquino’s Public-Private Partnership.”

Karapatan said that the Armed Forces of the Philippines, through the U.S.-guided Oplan Bayanihan, attempts to sow terror in the communities that range from harassment and intimidation to strafing and bombings “that are no different from the Marcos era.”